January 2025 Update
Hello from Renton Historical Society,
Firstly, we would like to start with some incredible news. RHS has been awarded $170,030 in grant funding through 4Culture for our public access initiative and general operation. These funds will be paid out over the next three years as we develop the remote digital collection, the new RHS website and our non-profit infrastructure.
RHS continues to make great progress on our public access initiative, and we are approximately halfway through the design phase of our new, better resourced, website. This website will host our public access feature, and we plan to present our first series of remotely viewable artifacts as early as April 2025.
We follow our good news with an important announcement. The City of Renton has asked RHS to move out of the Renton History Museum by July 15th, 2025. The building must be empty due to the critical renovations taking place, and so RHS is tasked with securing a building large enough to store approximately 3000 square feet of artifacts now held in the Museum. This decision cannot be made lightly, as it may spend down our endowment and reduce our annual operating budget.
After a loss of five board members in May and June of 2024, we continue to work toward recovery to a full board of directors totaling twelve. RHS welcomes Courtney Warren, as well as Kai Dalton and Carrie Bergquist to the board. This brings our leadership team up to six. A total of twelve are needed.
We are asking you, personally, to join our board of directors to help us decide how to best navigate these unique challenges with the resources available to us. By attending one board meeting a month, remotely or in-person at our Renton office, you can join us in standing up for this critical Renton institution, the endowment valued at $6 million dollars, and the over 45,000 priceless artifacts in our care.
In order to maximize the space we do have, and ensure our secured assets remain functional, RHS leadership has voted to repair the foundation of the annex over the next six months. This will allow RHS to rework the shelving to create more storage areas, and reduce the amount of space we must acquire.
Another fundamental need for RHS is to hire an Executive Director to take on the workload created by this separation and ensure organizational consistency independent of volunteer board member service. Since May 2024 - Executive Director responsibilities have been executed by our Treasurer, Makenna, who has over 10 years of professional non-profit experience including accounting, public engagement, fundraising and business operations. While she has done a remarkable job over the last eight months, it is not sustainable for a volunteer board member to work in such a capacity.
Thank you sincerely for your commitment to the longevity of Renton Historical Society and the preservation of Renton’s most important memories and artifacts.
Sincerely,
Christopher Howell
President of the Board of Directors
*Please note two versions of this letter was sent, one to active members, and one to the general mailing list. This is a combination of both versions meant for the general public.